Best Hard Ciders

The 12 Hard Ciders To Drink This Fall

Hard cider once flowed freely in young America. Today, there’s a resurgence of the stuff pouring into the market from breweries. Some of these modern ciders—spiked with maple syrup, aged in whiskey barrels, made from frozen juice—may not be what Thomas Jefferson would glug back in the day, but they’re worth picking. To separate the good glasses from the bad apples, we consulted three cider fanatics for their top picks. Sweet, right?

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1. Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouché Brut de Normandie

“A very dry, very tart cider,” says Miller. “The average drinker might not like it, but if you’re into sour beers, give it a shot.” Yes, there’s some funk—but plenty of apple and freshness, too. A cork and Champagne-like bottle give this cider a regal appearance. Pop it for a special occasion.

2. Ciderboys, Peach County Apple Peach Hard Cider

Recommender: Jeff Miller

The folks over at Ciderboys have a thing for flavoring apple cider with fruit—raspberry, cranberry, strawberry. They also do a mean peach-apple cider blend. It has undertones of apple cider and an overtone of the fresh tangy goodness that ripe peaches bring. This one’s perfect for drinkers who want a taste of summer deep into the colder months.

3. Ace Pumpkin Cider

Recommender: Jeff Miller

And this one’s straight-up fall. Miller gives this cider’s pumpkin flavor and fall spice props, noting that many of the pumpkin beers and ciders out there just don’t live up to the hype. Here, pumpkin flavor shines through. So do the pie spices: cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. A six-pack would be at home on the Thanksgiving table.

4. Fox Barrel Cider English Perry

Recommender: Jeff Miller

Not all ciders are brewed from apples. This one pulls its potency from pears. It’s light, crisp, and dry, with the fruit’s flavor bursting through from start to finish. Fox Barrel brews and cans this pear cider in England, where they’re been perfecting pear cider for ages.

5. Thistly Cross Fresh Root Ginger Cider

Recommender: Bruce Wright of J.K.’s Scrumpy (Flushing, Michigan)

Over in Scotland, Peter Stuart of Thistly Cross makes interesting ciders using Scottish apples and Champagne yeasts. For some of his special brews, he ages them in whiskey barrels. This cider ages with ginger, giving it spice that warms, but doesn’t burn through the clean apple flavor. Wright, a cider-maker himself, says to drink this bottle with Asian food.

6. J.K.’s Northern Neighbor

Recommender: Bruce Wright

This is the crisp, unfiltered, apple-in-a-bottle cider great for a cider newbie. It’s made from Michigan apples and an apple-like fruit from Canada called the Saskatoon berry. The result is a red-tinted cider with a deep, rolling flavor that’ll take you back to nostalgic fall days spent tossing a football or raking leaves. If you want a taste of cider’s potential, start here.

7. J.K.’s Winterruption

Recommender: Bruce Wright

Spiked with cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup, this cider is made for winter drinking, but can more than hold its own in fall. It’s another great introduction to hard cider. (Note: This bottle used to be called “Winter Solstice.”)

8. Eden Ice Cider

Recommender: Bruce Wright

Brewers make this cider by leaving apple juice out in the yard to freeze, then melting the ice, and fermenting the juice. The result of that work: a sweet cider that can tip the scales at 10 percent alcohol. “It’s stunning,” says Bruce Wright. “It costs $30 for a 375 ml bottle, and it’s worth every penny.”

9. Eve’s Cidery Northern Spy

Like some wines, this cider is made from a single variety of fruit, the Northern Spy apple. Flaherty says that this cider brings citrusy and salty flavors. It also packs an ABV punch, mouthwatering acidity, and natural carbonation.

10. Virtue Cider RedStreak

Recommender: David Flaherty

Greg Hall, the former brewmaster at the Goose Island brewery in Chicago, left beer for cider when he started Virtue. For now, his RedStreak only comes on draft. Flaherty’s into this cider because it has the fizz to balance its fruitiness.

11. Sarasola Sagardoa

Recommender: David Flaherty

What the hell was that? This is what you’ll be thinking after a sip of this wild cider from the Spanish Basque country. It is absurdly tart and fruity, with a mineral twang and a barnyard, cheese-like funk that will bowl you over from your blindside.

12. Farnum Hill Farmhouse

Recommender: David Flaherty

No tricks here. Flaherty calls out “notes of citrus and pineapple, with a touch of sweetness for balance.” Farmhouse is an easy intro to cider, but you could plunge right in with any of these stellar bottles.